§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what sales of butter to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have been completed under regulation 765/86.
§ Mr. Gummer[pursuant to his reply, 23 April 1986, c. 164]: Under regulation 765/86 successful bidders have until 1 December 1986 to remove the butter they have purchased from intervention stores and declare it for export to the appropriate customs authorities. It is not possible at this stage to say what sales have actually been completed in respect of the 100,000 tonnes for which bids were accepted on 10 April.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the EEC is authorised under the meeting of the protocol committee of 1 May 1985 to sell butter to Libya at prices below the minimum specified by the general agreement on tariffs and trade; and if any such sales have been contracted for.
§ Mr. Gummer[pursuant to his reply, 23 April 1986, c. 164]: The derogation from GATT minimum prices agreed on 31 May 1985 applies to any sale of butter more than 18 months old meeting certain conditions concerning the minimum quantities and delivery periods. There have been no sales to Libya meeting those criteria and none are anticipated.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to which countries the EEC was authorised to export food at special prices under regulation 765/86; and if any sales to Libya have been contracted under this regulation.
§ Mr. Gummer[pursuant to his reply, 23 April 1986, c. 164]: The countries to which butter may be sold under regulation 765/86 are listed in the annex to the regulation. 441W They are the USSR, Mongolia, India and Pakistan. The question of sales to Libya does not therefore arise under this regulation.
§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what sales of food have been concluded to date by the EEC under regulation 765/86; and if he will give details of the countries to which such sales have been concluded and, in each case, the amount of food and the price of sale expressed in terms of pence per pound.
§ Mr. Gummer[pursuant to his reply, 23 April 1986, c. 164]: Regulation 765/86 deals only with the sale of intervention butter more than 18 months old. The terms of the regulation provide for the price to be determined by competitive tender. To date bids have been accepted for a total of 100,000 tonnes for sale to the USSR. This consists of 20,000 tonnes with a minimum butterfat content of 80 per cent. and 80,000 tonnes with a minimum butterfat content of 82 per cent., at prices of 208.8 ecu/100 kg and 214.8 ecu/100 kg respectively. This gives an average sale price out of intervention of 59p per lb. After allowing for export refunds and the application of MCAs the net price is reduced to approximately 10p per lb, but when account is taken of transport and other costs, including a margin for the trade, the price to the Soviet authorities will be about 13p per lb.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is his estimate of the proportion of agricultural output accounted for by holdings of 1,000 standard man-days and over.
§ Mrs. Fenner[pursuant to her reply, 21 April 1986, c. 43]: It is estimated that, in 1985, just over one half of agricultural output in the United Kingdom was accounted for by holdings of 1,000 standard man-days and over.